Northwestern Rides Smith's Competitive Drive to Another Final
Four

Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Shannon Smith says she took
Northwestern's back-to-back, mid-April losses to Florida and Johns
Hopkins "very personally." She's been on a tear ever since,
including five goals in each of the Wildcats last five
games.

Shannon Smith was just getting into West Babylon (N.Y.) Junior
High when her father banned the driveway one-on-one basketball
games between her and her brother.

"We weren't allowed to do that anymore because we were being too
competitive," said Andrew Smith, who is two years younger than
Shannon. "Instead of the balls going in the basket, the balls were
being aimed at each other."

Shannon won most of those games.

"If she wasn't so good at lacrosse," Andrew said, "she'd be
playing basketball."

The competitive side of Shannon Smith, now a junior attacker for
the Northwestern women's lacrosse team, hasn't changed.

"I always wanted to be the best in everything I did," said
Smith, who also has a younger sister, Meghan. "My teammates will
tell you that I'm competitive about card games. With my brother and
sister, I would always run out fighting for [sitting] shotgun in
the car, who could eat their food the fastest, who could get out of
the car first. It could be anything."

It helped her to be the best scorer in New York state history.
She started for West Babylon's varsity as a seventh grader and
amassed 505 goals and 224 assists over her career – and that
was with missing several games as a senior due to an ankle
injury.

"At a young age, I was always a very highly motivated person and
always a very competitive person," Smith said. "I was very driven
in anything I did. If I was going to do something, I wanted to be
the best at it. I would work hard to make sure I was the best."

That mindset has made Smith one of the top players in the
college game, something that even her brother, a standout
quarterback and attackman himself who will play lacrosse for
Tampa's new program next year, has come to grips with.

"When I was younger, I didn't like talking about it," Andrew
said. "She's my older sister. But now, I brag about it. It's kind
of impressive."

Shannon is one of the stars of the final four that comes to
Stony Brook on Friday when the Wildcats play North Carolina.
Northwestern's 18-4 win over Albany in the quarterfinals was its
eighth straight win since back-to-back losses in mid-April to
Florida and Johns Hopkins.

"I definitely took those two losses very personally," said
Smith, who had six total points in the only losses in the Wildcats'
19-2 season. "I think that was a huge turning point in my season
and my teammates' season that you have to push it harder and go
that much harder. We all looked inside of ourselves. We have to go
day by day. We have to focus on the little things and get those
things right. We have to play as a team.

"You take them personally and let them sit inside you and let
them drive you. I let that drive me. I continued to do extra
shooting, extra wall ball. When I was at practice, you push it as
hard as you can as long as you can."

That push has helped Northwestern to another final four, Smith's
childhood home just 30 minutes away.

Smith was in fifth grade when her father, Bill, steered her away
from baseball and into lacrosse, which he had played in high
school. Bill's youngest brother had played in college. He and a
family friend helped to introduce and encourage Smith. It didn't
take much prodding, and Smith was soon going out four times per
week with her father to play catch and practice her shooting.

"I really pushed myself and worked at it every day," Smith said.
"He was there no matter what I did."

And while her mother, Patty, had some reservations, Bill was
confident that Shannon could handle varsity lacrosse as a seventh
grader, in just her third year with the sport. She was ahead of her
years in almost everything.

"When I was in eighth grade," Shannon said, "I was the starting
point guard on my high school basketball team, and I started on our
soccer team."

As a sophomore in high school, Smith set the New York single
season mark with 129 goals. Three years later, she came to
Northwestern a highly touted recruit, and she hasn't
disappointed.

"My coaches put a lot of faith in me," Smith said. "That's
awesome to know. My competitiveness has paid off. My work ethic has
paid off for me. I never thought I'd be where I am, and I wouldn't
be where I am without the coaching staff at Northwestern. They
taught me a lot and put me in position to be where I am."

As a freshman, Smith played midfield and made an impact, even
though she wasn't scoring as much as she was used to.

"Last year, we had Danielle [Spencer] and Katrina [Dowd]. They
were terrific leaders. I'm that go-to person."

"She's an excellent defender as well," said Northwestern head
coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "She has the ability to play all over
the field. That's what we needed that year. We needed her to be a
strong midfielder at that point.

"I don't know if it's more comfortable [on attack]. She's
scoring more because she's on the offense and she has to. She's
really figuring things out and making other people around her
better."

After scoring 33 goals and adding five assists as a freshman,
she scored 69 goals and had 33 assists for 102 points as a
sophomore after moving to attack. She also had 35 draw controls.
This year, the Tewaaraton Trophy finalist has upped her output to
78 goals and 41 assists for 119 points. She has scored five goals
in each of the last four games.

"I think she's been on a roll pretty much all season," Amonte
Hiller said. "I think she's a competitor. Whenever the game is on
the line, she's going to step up. Defense, offense, she's ready to
help us out.

"I don't know how much more she could do for us. In certain
situations, she really carried us and helped us when we needed
goals and stepped up. She's matured a lot throughout the year in
terms of her leadership. I think she'll continue to mature."

Each season has had its challenges for Smith. She played more
midfield as a freshman, and sophomore year was the first season in
which the Wildcats started to rely on her scoring. This year, they
have needed not only her scoring, but her leadership with a young
group around her.

"It's been great on this attack," Smith said. "We might have
struggled a little bit, but the chemistry was always there. It was
pulling the pieces together to make the attack look pretty. I took
on a much bigger role. When the game's on the line, I want the ball
in my stick to get the team the win.

"Last year, we had Danielle [Spencer] and Katrina [Dowd]. They
were terrific leaders. I'm that go-to person that Danielle and
Katrina were last year. I take more shots this year than last
year."

Smith already has taken 49 more shots than last year, and her
shooting percentage is higher. For Northwestern, that combination
means getting Smith more shots is a great way to gain success.

"Any time you have a strong attacker out there that people have
to worry about, it makes it a lot more challenging for another team
to defend," Amonte Hiller said. "She can break through a lot of
different types of defenses. She's got a way of figuring out where
the holes are and finding them.

"She's a very good finisher," she added. "She has a great will
and competitiveness to do well and win."

Those traits were hatched long ago, forged on the driveways
playing basketball against her brother.

"Having him helped," Smith said. "He pushed me. Having a brother
to play one-on-one basketball toughens you up a little bit. That
was a good thing to have."